


let me know!

by leejenowo



Series: Ships that should sail [10]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Controversial House Sorting, Fluff, M/M, Pining, markno are boyfriends, rensung if you squint
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-02-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:20:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22576975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leejenowo/pseuds/leejenowo
Summary: slytherin jaemin just wants to know who zhong chenle is and what he brought into school, he does NOT have a crush on the hufflepuff boy. he really doesn't.
Relationships: Na Jaemin/Zhong Chen Le
Series: Ships that should sail [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1157306
Comments: 5
Kudos: 99





	let me know!

**Author's Note:**

> this one goes out to my hgr babes  
> its my first time writing jaemle so like be kind or whatever
> 
> PS: it's bad and the spacing is fucked but i can't be bothered tbh

Jaemin sits down with a loud thud at the library table his friends had chosen to study at, “Stop pretending like you don’t know who this Chenle guy is. I know you have info on him. Or at least, Jeno does”

His arrival at the table doesn’t phase anyone except Donghyuck, because in his haste to get information on the mysterious Chenle guy, Jaemin knocks over the cup that contains one of those sugar-filled energy drinks that his friend keeps taking.

“What the actual- Jaemin! My Redbull!” Donghyuck starts cursing him out before drawing out his wand, “I’ll burn your ancient runes essay.”

It makes Renjun chuckle from across the table, “How not Gryffindor of you. Seems like you can’t control your anger.”

Said Gryffindor turns to make a face at his friend, “How not Ravenclaw of you to not be studying. What are you drawing this time?” Donghyuck leans over to try to get a look at Renjun’s parchment, “Is that Ji-”

His sentence was cut off with a silencing charm before he could even finish it and he turned an accusing glare at Renjun. The Ravenclaw just turns back to his drawing with a satisfied smile while Donghyuck tries his best to clean up the mess Jaemin made. It doesn’t take long before all the fussing makes Jeno take his wand out before performing a quick cleaning charm.

He pushes his glasses before putting his wand back into his robe, “Why do you even drink that? I’m pretty sure you’re smart enough to make a potion that will either make you feel well-rested after only 3 hours of sleep or one that will help you stay up all night.”

Donghyuck opens his mouth to reply before remembering what had happened only a couple of minutes prior. Instead, he gets his quill and a piece of parchment before quickly scrambling ‘mind your own business, traitor’ onto the paper and showing it to Jeno.

The words only make the Hufflepuff roll his eyes, “You’re literally just jealous because my boyfriend is an Auror in training.”

Renjun scoffs but doesn’t look up from what he’s drawing, “I don’t think anyone here is jealous of you dating Mark Lee. I think we’re all jealous of you being head boy and having almost a whole wing of the school reserved and ―,” he casts a quick glance at Jaemin who had been quiet the whole time, “ sharing the same house as Zhong Chenle.”

The words of explanation get caught in the back of Jaemin’s throat while he’s trying to find an actual, and not completely stupid, reason as to why he has been bringing the sixth year boy up at each of their meetings. But all he can manage is a weak excuse about his cool hair color.

\--

The whispers start around the same time as the students begin passing through the doors of the great hall. 

It’s a new year for Jaemin, his last, and it’s already filled with rumors about a sixth year bringing in an unauthorized object through the protective gates of the school. It’s been known for a while that with no real threat to the wizarding world after the Dark Lord was defeated during the Second Wizarding War in 1998, the protective charms surrounding the school grounds haven’t been as regularly casted. In fact, most of them had been dropped, leaving only some charms that allow students, staff and ministry officials to enter without having to do a whole search. 

Even then, the fact that a student was able to get through the protective barrier of the school and the teachers was unheard of in Jaemin’s year. Maybe it’s the fact that it was done by someone younger than him or maybe it’s simply the fact that he can’t let a rumor go around without exactly knowing what is happening ― a purely Slytherin trait in his opinion ― but there’s just no way he can let that go by.

The rumor spreads starting from the Hufflepuff table, so Jaemin can only guess that the individual in question is from that house and he makes a mental note to ask Jeno about it whenever they start studying together.

The next day at breakfast, the news seems to have leaked to other houses because Jaemin can hear some of the younger Slytherins talk about how ‘Chenle from potion brought a muggle device to school’ and it makes him wonder who exactly that boy is and what that device could be. It’s his first time hearing the name and he figures maybe he just doesn’t know everyone in the school like he thought he did ― which ouch, his Slytherin ego takes a hit.

\--

“Oh. my. god.” Jisung isn’t even fully through the dungeon door and he’s already raving about another one of Chenle’s cool thing.

“I want to meet this Chenle guy,” Jaemin finally makes up his mind and says what he has been thinking about for a long time.

The younger Slytherin only cocks an eyebrow at him, “I’ve literally asked you to join us for breakfast twice this week and you declined both times. What makes you suddenly want to meet him?”

Now, it’s not like Jaemin was shy or anything of the sort, but how is he supposed to tell his friend that he has a stupid teenage crush on a guy he’s only heard of through story told by other students? So instead of telling the actual truth, Jaemin says the same thing he’s been replying for weeks, “you eat at the Hufflepuff table and we’re Slytherins.”

It makes Jisung sigh and roll his eyes, “literally no one cares about which house table you eat at Jaemin. No one has cared for like a decade. You’re just being a stupid boy.”

Jisung’s comment makes Jaemin spring up from the couch before he throws himself on the boy, complaining loudly about how he’s not stupid and it’s actually Jisung who’s being stupid. Other students barely glance at them before going back to their own thing and yet, Jisung and Jaemin keep fighting each other until it’s time for curfew and they have to go back to their own dormitories.

\--

To say Jaemin is nervous to meet Chenle is an understatement. He can feel his stomach turning upside down every time his mind goes back to the fact that he’s about to be formally introduced to the one guy he’s ever…  _ felt  _ anything for since he met Jeno in first year. And it’s stupid. Absolutely crazy. He can’t believe he has  _ non-platonic  _ feelings for a boy he’s never uttered a word to. He hasn’t even properly seen the guy for Merlin’s sake.

He’s so nervous that Donghyuck even offered the brew him a felix felicis potion just to make sure that everything would go well for him, but Jaemin refused. He’s not stupid and he’s pretty sure he can manage to eat breakfast with Jisung and Chenle without making a complete fool out of himself.

Well, it turns out that even Slytherin Jaemin can be quite wrong when it comes to making himself look stupid in front of his crush because breakfast starts off wrong from the get-go.

“What are you doing here?” Jaemin looks at the rest of his seventh-year friend with a questioning look.

Jeno just shrugs, “I literally eat here every day.”

“We heard you were eating with Chenle for the first time today so we thought we would accompany you,” Renjun is sitting beside Chenle so the Hufflepuff can’t see the wink Renjun shoots his way, “the more the merrier, am I right?”

Jaemin then turns to Hyuck, the only person who he had personally told that he would be eating breakfast with Chenle today, for an explanation. The Gryffindor picks up on Jaemin’s look and just shoots him a mocking smile, “wanted to see the trainwreck.”

“That’s not really nice, Donghyuck,” Jisung snorts and Jaemin finally brings himself to look at the famous Chenle, “Hi Jaemin! I’m Chenle.”

His voice sounds high and slightly squeaky and he expects the boy to be smaller, like Renjun but he looks like the complete opposite. He has broad shoulders and he’s as tall as Donghyuck when he’s sitting, possibly even as tall as Jeno. A face that looks young and unchanged by puberty. What surprises Jaemin the most about Chenle though is the fact that he has pink hair when he’s pretty sure that the last time he caught a glimpse of him ― last night at dinner when he was really obviously  _ not  _ looking towards the Hufflepuff table ― Chenle’s hair was dark brown.

And what the fuck. Chenle said his name and suddenly Jaemin loses complete control of his brain? How does that work? So yeah, breakfast turns out to be a complete failure after Jaemin drops his whole plate on top of Chenle after Jisung  _ accidentally  _ knocks his arm. And on top of that ― as if that wasn’t enough to mess up their first meeting ― Donghyuck decided it would be funny to charm his toast with a fart spell so every time he took a bite, he had to pretend like the bench was squeaking under him.

\--

And yet, despite their first meeting being totally atrocious, Jaemin keeps going back to the Hufflepuff every morning for breakfast without caring about the other guys joining them. Today, the two of them were completely alone.

“It’s so weird to be alone with each other,” Chenle greets him cheerfully, his newly green hair bouncing on his head in loose waves. It didn’t take long for Jaemin to find out that Chenle was actually a metamorphmagus and his favorite thing to modify was his hair color. Which explains why Jaemin had so much trouble actually putting a name on the Hufflepuff’s face for weeks after the year started.

Jaemin shrugs off his robe and leaves it on the bench, “Hyuck has an early Quidditch practice for try-outs and Renjun is in the library studying for his NEWTs. Jisung is in detention with Sprout because he managed to burn half of her Mandrakes. I don’t know about Jeno, though.”

Chenle nods, “Jeno has some headboy thing or whatever. I heard some aurors are coming to see the fifth years today to give information about auror training and what classes they have to take.”

“Yeah, headboy duty. Pretty sure he’s actually making out with Mark in the empty classroom on the third floor.”

It makes Chenle snicker, but all Jaemin can think about is ‘this could be us but you’re playing’. Merlin, he hates those stupid feelings. It’s Chenle that manages to get him out of his head.

“What do you want to do once you graduate?”

That’s something he’s thought about a lot before, imagining himself in multiple careers: auror, teacher, some random government worker. Still, there’s nothing he likes more than writing.

He smiles thinking about it, “I want to write books in Parseltongue. No one has done it before and I believe that it can be learned.”

The Hufflepuff gasps at the confession, “You’re a Parselmouth? So that means that you’re―”

“Yeah, somewhere down the family tree there’s Salazar Slytherin. Not a lot of people know it and it’s really not a big deal. Just… Don’t mention it to anyone, please?”

Chenle shakes his head, “Don’t worry, my mouth is shut. I’m just surprised that you’re like  _ pure  _ pureblood. Most wizards married muggles after the war when they realized that times were changing. Even Jisung is a muggle-born.”

“The sorting hat told me that I could end up in Gryffindor, but because of my blood, I begged it to put me in Slytherin,” he fidgets a bit on his seat, “because my parents would probably disown me if I ended up in another house…”

Only a small sound of acknowledgement comes out of Chenle’s mouth and Jaemin looks down at his lap. He hates talking about his family and how conservative they are about anything that has to do with the wizarding community. He still hasn’t told them about the fact that he’s a Parselmouth because he knows they would freak out about another heir being born. He understands their concerns, he really does, but there’s nothing to worry about. Nothing bad has happened for more than a decade and any of the Dark Lord’s followers left ― if there’s any― have not been active for years. He just knows that they would 1) freak out about it and 2) absolutely oppose his plans to become a writer. Well, Jaemin’s goal isn’t to marry into a rich family and have kids and work a 9-5 job for the ministry. The thought alone makes him want to cringe. They already got angry at him for not joining the quidditch team like his father and grandfather had done before. No, instead of that, Jaemin joined a wizard chess club in his second year and his parents absolutely flipped out. His choice of friends was also a problem for them. As far as they know, Jaemin’s only friend is Renjun because he’s the only other pureblood in his friend group. They have no idea that he’s friend with muggle-born Jeno and half-blood Donghyuck and Merlin forbids he ever mentions that he’s friends with a muggle-born Slytherin boy. That would just be the end of the world for his whole family.

Before he can fall down the ‘i’m a complete failure to my family’ hole, Chenle brings his mood back up with random talk about all of his classes and the things his teachers are currently making him do. 

Yeah, Jaemin is so stupidly in love with that boy.

\--

Jaemin has a date with Chenle. Not like one their breakfast where they end up alone because all of their friends are busy with something else. It’s a real date, with just the two of them going to Hogsmeade together to do an activity that is usually considered a date: going to get a drink together.

He honestly has no idea how it even happened in the first place, but he somehow scored a date with his semester-long crush and it’s today. In a couple of hours. If it wasn’t for Renjun boldly walking through the Slytherin common room wall to get him out of bed and ready in no time. Not wearing his robes feels weird, but seeing Chenle in an oversized hoodie and ripped jeans is just… Thinking about his crush in clothes that are not Hogwarts appropriate makes him feel all funny and it makes him think about how Chenle would dress if they were to go on a date in the muggle world.

Things go well, really, and Jaemin starts thinking that he really is just worrying for nothing when it comes to Chenle. He’s not the best person when it comes to romance ― he  _ is  _ single after all ― but the way Chenle clings to him and looks at him when he’s talking about random classes and jokes Donghyuck told him definitely makes him believe that there might be something going on between them (or so he hopes).

Before going back to school, the two of them decide to visit the new pet store that opened in Hogsmeade at Chenle’s demand. Jaemin found out during the date that the Hufflepuff doesn’t own a pet because he didn’t have the money to get one when he started school and he decided not to adopt one as the years went by. To make him feel better, Jaemin reached into the inside pocket of his jacket to bring out his companion.

“Is that an eyelash viper? It’s beautiful,” Chenle reaches out to touch it, but Jaemin is quick to bring the snake closer to his body.

“She’s venomous and I haven’t really taught her how to behave yet… I wouldn’t want her to hurt you.”

The Hufflepuff holds his hand back towards Jaemin, “do you trust me?”

Jaemin hesitates before handing the small yellow snake forward, “her name is Piree.”

His mouth hangs agape when he hears Chenle start to hiss and whistle at the snake, speaking in Parseltongue to reassure her that he was a friend of Jaemin and he wouldn’t hurt her.

It’s hard for Jaemin to hide his surprise, “how did-”

Chenle holds Piree close to his in the direction of the Slytherin, as if he was making her talk, “you speak to yourself in Parseltongue, idiot.” The snake hisses loudly at Chenle’s words and he looks at Jaemin, “what did she say?”

It makes Jaemin blush, “she said she sees why I like you.”

Chenle turns the small reptile towards his own face before whispering, “don’t tell Jaemin, but I kind of like him too.”

\--

“I read your introduction chapter for your book and I think it’s really good.”

Jaemin scoffs at Chenle’s words, “of course you would say that you’re literally my boyfriend.”

“Ok, Na Jaemin. Your book sucks and you will fail your NEWTs next week,” the whomping willow shudders above them and Piree slithers from Jaemin’s robe sleeve onto Chenle’s shoulder before hiding under the collar of his shirt, her head resting against his collarbone. “See, they agree with me. I guess you’re a good boyfriend at least, or whatever.”

Chenle’s words make Jaemin pout. He knows his boyfriend doesn’t mean what he says, but Piree’s betrayal hurts more than the words, “Piree is a traitor.”

“Piree is a good girl, she knows who she actually belongs to!”

The pout on Jaemin’s face is still there so Chenle reaches over to grab onto his black and green tie to bring him closer and leave a kiss on his lips. Jaemin smiles against his mouth before leaning back against the tree.

“Wow, it looks like I don’t mind Piree finding a new owner!”

Chenle laughs and the Slytherin is suddenly reminded of something.

“I just remembered everyone talking about you at the start of the year. Apparently you brought a muggle device into school without getting caught. What was it?”

The Hufflepuff snickers before reaching into the inside pocket of his robe. He quietly brings out a rectangular device that flips open and close. The inside adorns buttons and two smaller black rectangles. Jaemin looks at his boyfriend questioningly.

“It’s a Nintendo DS. I brought it here because it was a gift from my parents, but I forgot this stupid place doesn’t have electricity. You can play a game on it. I hope Donghyuck won’t be too sad if Coco died.”

Jaemin cocks his head to the side, “coco?”

“I- yeah. Whatever.”


End file.
